Claire Kennedy Design

What are the components of a well-made garment

Sometimes it's important to step back and prioritize or at least take a look at the whole picture.

We sewists often get so bogged down with the details that we forget the whole 9 yards!

Here are some of my points that my garments have to meet before my clients get to take them home:

1. Construction - this is a given - not only well-constructed, but put together well - well-inserted sleeve heads/armscyes, good roll on collar (if desired) and other tailoring elements as well as buttonholes, zippers closures and finishing details executed well.
2. Fit - the garment must fit - this is not a "stretch" fit, but a fit with ease (here's a good American ease chart).  Remember this is a personal thing, but still fitting with ease is what I'm looking for.
3. Seated well - this refers to the pitch or angle, also if you have to constantly adjust the garment to have it look right, then it needs to be anchored or repitched better.
4. Proportion - is the length and width and positions of various features of the garment correct proportionally for my client's shape and size.
5. The Look - does this meet the style, persona of my customer....is this what she want...does she feel excellent in the garment.

This may sound like a lot, but again, in small steps this can be accomplished.

There are several elements to each category, but these are the basic guidelines that my garments must pass before I'm finished with them.

As you begin to sew more for yourself and garner your own style, you may even add some more categories as you need.  And as you become accustomed to fulfilling one or more of these categories, you will most likely do this so naturally that you will probably even forget it as a guideline.

Fitting - there's more to it than just the physics

When I work with a client - no matter what it is, I'm digging into their life and head a little.  I get to know her really fast and very well and sometimes this can be a little unnerving.

Oh Dear - what is Claire up to now!  No, I don't use this method - although it might work pretty well.  I tend toward the dialogue method:  Did you go to Cheryl's birthday party?....why?....when did you leave?....did you have fun?

What business of mine is that anyway? (other than just being innocently nosey).  If my client tells me she went cause she's family, that's one thing, if she tells me she went cause she carpools with Cheryl that's another - if she went cause her hubby works with Cheryl's hubby, that's something else - if she went cause she thinks Cheryl is higher up on the social chain, that tells me a whole lot!

So what in the world am I after?

Well, I'm looking at her dress and I want to know how deep to make the plunge in front?.....or how va-va-voom does she want to be? ...respectible? ....conservative? ...playful? ....uppity? ...is she a carpooling mom? ...is she a seductress? ...is she a social climber?   I'm after what SHE wants.

The same thing happens when we are fitting ourselves.  We go through transitions in our lives...rebellious teens, smooth collegiates, sexy newlyweds, sophisticated working gals,  responsible moms, respectable parents, proud grand-parents, and you don't think that your style of clothing changes with all that?  It does big time.

As in....from this

....to this....same actress, same character - different whole look!

This is one of my fav transformations in moviedom....from Evil Under the Sun.

Who wants to wear the same thing you did when you were in college now that you're giving your daughter away in marriage - please don't!!!  (Please no more hip-huggers EVER again!!!)

Imogen Lamport does a good job of describing a lot of this on her blog - science meets fashion.  But it still comes down to knowing what you like and what you don't.

Why is this so hard, because it presents questions that we didn't even know to ask, much less the choice.  When he don't know how a good garment is supposed to fit, how can you possibly know what a good fit is, if you've never had one?

Neither one of these is a good fit, just because it's "in style" for the moment, may look good on that anorexic model, or because it stretches to fit.

This is important because stretching to fit, is not fitting.  Before the day of stretch fabrics, seams would break and rip, so it couldn't be done.  Today with those knit and stretch fabrics, there is no limit - to the stretch.

This changes the game when you're talking about fitting and sizes.  This makes fitting much more complicated.  Fitting in stretch type fabrics is different than wovens.  And although it may appear easier in stretch fabrics, it's really not.  When you have a fit in a woven fabric, you look neat, well-groomed and well-kept, whereas in a stretch, there are many fitting details that are just not done.

Here's the fun part.  When you have a pants pattern that fits, and you develope a pattern from that for stretch fabrics, you get that same style and well-groomed look that you have with the woven.  THEN you understand what it's like to have a good-fitting pair of pants.

So why all the fuss - woven smoven. stretch smetch!!!  Because this gives you heads up.  If you know that it's going to take you 2 hours to fly from Atlanta to Miami (hopefully), then you know what to expect.  If you know it's going to take you all day to travel from Seatle to Miami, you're prepared.  If you know that you are taking on a big project in fitting a pair of pants, hopefully that will keep you from being discouraged during the process.

The process WILL take a some time

The process will be fraught with confusing signals from your pants pattern.

The process will take some effort.

The process will most importantly yeild a very valuable tool.

Cause once you have that pattern, it will take you an afternoon at most, but usually about 2 hours to whip up those pants.  Talk about empowered.

So remember that you're not only fitting your body, you're fitting your mind too.  It's a very personal process...you are basically bargaining between being too baggy in the rear to feeling comfy when you sit down,  Some of my clients love to feel comfy when they sit, and some hate being baggy - that's all personal, and we as sewists get to make the choice and see that choice into reality!

Enjoy!

Quality

A couple of days ago, I had an interesting dialogue about how far to go on a garment to make it complete.

I will admit that for myself sometimes, I'm known to take a short cut here and there, but for my clients, I have a hard and fast rule:

My best is what my clients pay for, it is what they expect and it is what I deliver.

To be honest, most of them wouldn't know the difference.  It's only me that knows.  And to be honest I could get away with doing less.

But I would know.

One client was at a luncheon with none other than Oscar de la Renta, who asked who "made" her suit.  She told him, and asked him how he knew.  He said, because the workmanship was so fine.  The delicate pattern in the garment was matched and even used to make detailed borders on the suit.

She came back to me beaming.  Fortunately she's one of those gals around town who doesn't know to keep her mouth shut - the perfect "happy" client.  She's been better than a whole year of advertising!

See, it really does matter.

You will eventually garner enough experience and appreciation for fine workmanship to the point that you will know the difference.  Whether it's purchasing or creating it, quality becomes something that will mater.

This is a long way to say, it's worth it to take out that seam....again;  it's worth it to work through that small buckle in the seam;  it's worth it to make that waistband just a little closer fit for you body  - whether that's looser or tighter....

 

It's worth it in the long run.

It's a hard habit to get into, but once you do, it makes your sewing look really professional - even better than anything you could buy.  Well, that's not exactly true, if you want to find someone like me or fly to NY or Paris to have someone like Karl Lagerfeld do your clothes, you can sure do that.

But that's the quality of work you want.  The amazing thing is that this doesn't take a degree from MIT or FIT to do better work, it takes making a decision on your part to make your sewing neat, clean and functional. 

I'm not saying you'll run into Oscar or Karl....but just in case....well, you know....

My iron

My iron has to work like 24/7 and not complain, need any service, come on fast, stay on strong, for a long time.  I would hate to be my own iron.

But the great thing is I don't hafta.  I have a great iron.

A Reliable i300 which is the medium sized-boiler steam model.  Here's a little video on the iron, what it does for me, you can tell why I like it, but also why I recommend it.

One caveat - it's expensive, but every time you use it, you're thankful you spent the money.  Also for the home sewist, I suspect the iron would last around 20 years - for me it's about 10 years (probably more for the home sewist).  Divide $400 by 20 and you get $20/year, for an outstanding quality appliance that works way beyond what the home appliance models can do.  For those of you who have good sewing machines, I really recommend looking into this model.

I purchased my iron through Atlanta Thread, but they are available widely.  Make sure you get the iron AND the steamer/boiler.  Some sellers are only selling the iron, or the boiler.  For the first setup you will only need both.  BTW, the old one is fixed (with a part about $20 from Reliable) so it's a stand by, and as a surprise (although I don't think it will be a surprise now), I'm taking it to my September class so my students can have a real treat when ironing.  

BTW, I don't get a commission or break or anything.  This is just a good product that I have used for a long time that works and like to pass on info like that as much as info of products that don't work to save you all the headaches and anxiety of wondering, "Is it me or the iron?!"  Most of the time, I'll bet it's the iron!!!

Here are some links to some of the tools in my work space.

Clover Awl
Big and small Needles - embroidery which has the long eye, where you are able to get many threads through one hole of a small needle.
Point Turner
Orange stick push
Clover chalk marker
Suede brush
Sewline marker
Clover fabric pencil
Soft Ticondaroga Pencils
Tweezerman Tweezers
Knife Edge Ginger Scissors
Clover needle Cleaner
Needle threader (most of the time it's free in a large assorted sized needle package)

A fall little top

Here in the Southern Plains, it stays hot a lot - even into fall.  We have a saying that we can't wait till it gets down to a really cool 90° at night! 

So when we dress for fall and back to school stuff, we have to have some really cool clothes that look fall-ish.

Enter the sewist (don't you just love all the freedom we have)

Found some decent cotton at JoAnn's and been wanting to do this top:

 

Doesn't it look made for a gauze-y type fabric. In another version (the longer one) it has sleeves, which I like for this shorter top.  

   

 

Really nice - I'll wear this almost up to October.  After about the middle of October, things begin to return to normal around here.  Actually September is one of the more beautiful times of year in the Southern Plains - Indian Summer, where the temps at night are pleasant, and the day time highs aren't obscenely high - warm but not hot.

A few details...love my new flat felled foot - even more than my serger right now - I know once I get over the infatuation with this foot, I'll go back to serging but it's nice to have an alternative to serging.

 

Then used another wonderful Bernina foot - the binding foot/attachment.  As all things Bernina, it really works.  You take your bias strip, feed it into the guide for the foot, and get it started, and press the gas, and you've got binding on your garment, home dec item.  It's an amazement to me every time I use it.

 

For the front, I did a miter, but I did do this by hand.  There's probably a way to do this by machine, but for me, the exactness and smallness, I didn't think I would have all that much control, so tacked it by hand then went over it with the machine.

Lastly, on the gathers in front, I run into a frequent dilemma about what to do when the gathers either aren't all in a regular shape, or are on one side or another more than the other.  This is a simple technique I've used for years - even when I'm gathering bridal gown skirts onto bodices and need the gathering to be even and straight.  

This is a shorty, but hope it helps you all when you're wanting to even out your gathers - either elastic or on a pulled double stitch for gathering.

PS - Just found that you can download this pattern at the Burda Style site....click here - yeah!!!

Are we all a little anxious?

I read a couple of days of someone who already got their August Burda, and I hadn't gotten mine.

Where is my issue?

Has the mailman eaten it?....has the dog eaten it?

At last...(as I do my excellent Etta James in the shower rendition!)  Whew!  Another month of great jewels to drool over - and there are some jewels....

With all that's going on with the site, do we know there will be a Burda in the future?  Ok, I can give up a lot of things but not my Burda World of Fashion or Burda Magazine or Burda style or whatever it's called.

For a long time I'm amazed at the great designs that keep coming month after month.  This is very hard to do, but they keep coming:

 

This is #110 - a long version - maybe a little too long (I'm short so I have to be careful of this.  But there are some things I LOVE about this (there is a shorter version - below, which I might do).  Love that upper chest/bust dart (1.) and have always loved this side dart (2.).  The pockets might get in the way of that line, and that could be bothersome, so might not do these pockets like this, unless it's a print, stripe or tweedy look where I can do patch pockets that don't show.

 

Here's the short version with patch (and flap pockets).  BTW, this also has a back shoulder upper back dart - more for fitting better.

 

Maybe I never noticed this line/dart (2. & 3.) combo before, until I started sewing with Burda, but just love it - AND another upper bust dart (1.) - what fun is this.  Lines are fabulous here.

Now that I'm secure in the fact the dog has not eaten my latest issue of Burda, I need time, why do I have to sleep?...why do I have to work?...oh yeah, food, shelter and of course....FABRIC!!!! 

Now I'm waiting for the Sew Beautiful to get to the provinces!  I'm dying to try Bunny's technique from the new Sew Beautiful magazine which is NOT in stores and NOT on newsstands and NOT in the mail!

Grrrrrrrrrrrrr!  We sewist have such a burden!....or is that obsession....nah, it's a burden!

A lot of fun

This was just a lot of fun!

Holy Smokes, Bullwinkle!

Could this be the beginning of listing patterns - finally - on the new Burda site.  I know the archives are still up, but just the regular patters from the store - I miss perusing this so much.

 

They have a link (course it doesn't work), but at least it is a link to the magazine styles and they do have the styles up from the magazine for the last two months (those that haven't been already archived on the old site).  Now there's not much info, but at least there's movement..

I would sure like to know what happened when Burdafashion,.com and Burdamode.com both went pftttt, and were linked to Burdastyle.  Have heard some stuff, but it's been a while.

What I'm really interested in knowing if this is a business move to make sure that there are plenty of Burda patterns out there in the future, or if this is a last-ditch attempt to rescue a company that is going down the drain.  I'm hoping that because of the tremendous online Burda community that there is tons of interest to keep this company going, even if the US can't contribute in a big way, other countries (Asia, Australia, Europe, Africa) all seem to be very engaged in the community. 

I just don't like this waiting - particularly waiting for all the info to be transferred to another site.  Boo!

Oh well, I supposed sometimes progress is slow - much slower than instant gratification.  I will have to learn to wait! Grrrrrr!

A delicate seam - part 2

Isn't it amazing how a delicate almost weightless thing can cause so much consternation!  It's always the way.

Holly - thanks for the comment and compliment.  You are exactly right about the weight.  I have yet to get a light enough French seam to hang well, and even a seam with too much edge stitching (either over lock or serger) is too heavy.  This is what works the best on my dresses, skirts and long trains which are long and much heavier seams than blouses our dresses.  I've even been known to sew these by hand - usually when they are lined or faced. This may not be very cost-effective, but the most important thing here is that the finished garment hand and look straight.

Here are a couple of photos

 

This one (above) shows the seam hanging - it's just as straight and unwobbly as a seam like this can get.

This one (above)  is a more detailed photo - click on image and you can see the light stitching.  The stitching is fairly far apart, making it less thread per inch, making it more light-weight.

A lot of folks have told me that this is not being money wise about my time.  I tell them, I have a fabulous reputation today because people know this is the quality of work I turn out.  If it takes me doing it by hand, so be it. 

Here again are my rules (the "not by hand rules!"):

1. The seam, technique or thread (or amount of thread per inch) can't weigh a lot

2. The seam can't buckle, wobble, wrinkle or crinkle at all  - what I call easing in a lot of fabric into a short space.  I lay it on a flat surface to match the seams as closely as possible, and pin about every 6" like this:

   

   When you sew on the edge (or serge on the edge as I do, then the pin does not interfere with the needle or any other mechanism and yet the fabric remains tacked and in place while the sewing occurs.

3. The seam has to sew in just as the machine will feed it.  This means that there's no pulling or stretching or pushing involved, that you might otherwise be able to get away with in another fiber or fabric. 

For me, this comes down to a clean seam.  I don't care how it looks coming out of the machine or after I've pressed it.  What counts is how it hangs on my client.  If the seam is straight on my client, that is what matters.  Even in some of the beautiful designer hand-made garments that I have altered in chiffon, the seams are done very lightly and very delicately - some are just sewn with no over-stitching on the edge at all.

Now, here's the joke.  I remember once I was going through a particularly hard learning curve on a lapel on a jacket once with my mentor teacher.  She had me taking that dang thing in and out about 5 times, I swear.  I had put in the collar backwards, and she wanted me to take the collar out of a notched lapel of a tailored jacket after I had done all that hand work to get the interfacing to roll just so on the collar.  Out came all the pad stitching, the collar, the interfacing and turn the collar going the right way - some how I got confused and put it in backwards again (see, even we advanced students make mistakes), and had to take it all out over again.....grrrrrrr!

 When I finally got it right, and the garment passed her inspection, she said to me, "Now, Claire, had that been me and I was doing this for a client, I wouldn't have spent all that time doing it again, I would have recut it as it would have been more cost effective!!!"  Grrrrrrrr.  I think I went bald for a couple of months while I pulled my hair out - we laughed of course, but I was exasperated.

Then why did she have me do it - to learn the lesson - sometimes you can't redo it, and guess what?  I never made that mistake again.

So here's the deal.  Most of the time you don't have to worry about this on garments like short skirts, blouses and other shorter-seamed garments.  I have to on my long skirts and trains - they are a different animal.  The weight of that much fabric, the weight of the seam all take a toll on the seam.

If you can get a clean seam without this technique - go for it!  It's the clean seam you're after.  If you can't get a clean seam, try this technique.  I think it will work for you.

Doing a difficult seam

One of my favorite techniques I use to solve the problem of a wobbly seam on a sheer or particularly slippery fabric is a little laborious, but once you use this technique, you won't want to do this any other way.

First, you must lay out your pieces and match your seams on a flat surface so that there's no buckling or warping.  Usually skirt seams like this are not exactly on the straight, so laying down the fabric seam on top of seam means that you are making sure that the seam won't buckle or wrinkle.

Next, pin about every 6" which may seem like a lot, but you'll be glad once you're sewing it up.  I almost always pin with the pin perpendicular to the seam edge and with the pin standing out at least 1" or more from the seam edge.  This allows you to keep the pin in and it will appear to that you are sewing over it, although the pin itself and the needle of the serger will not come in contact with the pin.  IOW, you aren't sewing over the pin and running the risk of jamming the pin into the shuttle of the bobbin or other damaging act, but at the same time you're fabric is kept in place by the pin.  I have the video below which helps show this.

Thirdly is to allow the machine or serger to feed in the fabric at it's own speed.  No pulling or keeping the fabric tight or taunt while sewing it through the machine.  This as well ensures that there will be minimum wobbling or buckling in the seam.

Finally after I've finished, I press the garment on the wrong side to "bend" the seam the direction I which with a finish pressing on the right side to make sure that the seam looks as clean as possible.

OK here's the video, and we won't look at the mess of my studio, and me...when I'm in my studio working, I look more like the mad arteest!

One last technique here to make this look really good.  More often than not these skirt seams are not on the straight - not the exact bias either, but they don't have to be on the exact bias to stretch a little.  So it is very good to hang the skirt for at least 24 hours before you hem it to make sure that the hem won't stretch out after you've hemmed it.

Typical fabrics that this technique would be useful for are chiffon (poly and/or silk), charmeuse, crepe de chine, light-weight crepe, rayon, and even some minimum stretch knits. 

This isn't particular a hard technique, but it is a little bit more time-consuming, but it works every time. A seam in a drapey, loose fabric like this that is not buckling, wobbly or crinkled, is really a fabulous look.  It keeps the smooth drapey look of the fabric, yet without that horrible wobble in the seam. It just works, and for my girls' dresses to see this seam on the outside as smooth as glass, it's well worth it.

Enjoy!

Musubu Part 2

Having done the muslin on this pattern (see here), I was ready (the next day, but work and yada, yada, yada), to make this up, but had to wait a week. 

I'm doing a video tomorrow (don't worry - will provide a link when it's published) and of course wanted to wear my best, so needed to finish this top.

 

It turned out well, and I'm pleased, but for the really picky person in me, there's a few things that will make this pop.

 

This top works, but there are some pretty strict parameters that you have to obey to make this work.

A bow like this is the dominant feature here.  It's big. It's monopolizing, and to keep it from overpowering the rest of the top, the rest of the top has to be very contained, defined and nothing left to the imagination.  

Also I'm thinking about the Oriental vs. Occidental way of fitting.  The Oriental allows for much less ease, and keeping within those guidelines, it makes total sense for this to fit closer than I would normally fit.

When sitting see how much better the bottom one looks than the top (the secret in sitting here is with my elbows out so that you can see the delineation of the waist, which is what makes it work here.

But I needed to make this work "naturally" since this is a video and I'll be moving around.

So back to the mannequin and a little more snug fit on the bodice.

 

Now this works. 

But alas there is another problem.  The silk is too "hot" for the camera.  IOW, the camera will pick up the silk top and not me.  I could be made up like a two-bit hussy and still how out shine that top.  So I won't wear the top tomorrow for the video shooting - but I have it now - just in case you know!

The other thing I learned from this - if anyone is interested in doing this is that this was a silk tussah, which has a pretty good body, but is still light weight.  I knew this pattern at least needed this stiffness.  But the truth is that this top REALLY needs something very stiff.  I have some wonderful stiff silk medium weight twill which will be perfect for this.  If you want to make it up in a tussah silk (which is beautiful sometimes, cause you can get some really exciting iridescent colors), then consider doubling it so that you have two fronts, two backs and two ties.  This would allow even a little layer of organza in between the layers without it showing.  It would also allow the bow to be faced instead of hemmed.

I will definitely make this up again as this is one of those architectural designs that has such a dynamic "wow" factor that I can't resist it.

Stay tuned for Part 3!!!!  Enjoy!

A class finished and a pattern review

Another pants class finished and yes, every one of my students walked out with a pants pattern even some of those who were earlier discouraged!

Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees!

But most interesting of all was one of the patterns.  Most everyone used Vogue 1003, an old standard sloper type pattern for pants, which I have always like using.  However one of my students elected to use a Sandra Betzina pattern Vogue 1034. We looked at it together and both of us thought it looked fine.

 

There's nothing too funny or tricky here, so we were really shocked, when she cut it out, and the legs were twisted.  So she cut again.  I watched and made sure she was on the straight.  Her fit was great, but the legs were still twisted.  At this point, I tell her we can spend umpteen million hours figuring out why, or we can cure the problem and go on down the road.  She has the pants on and I draw a straight line from her inseam to hem, and from her hip to hem.  This will make sure that she has a straight on her.

 

Here is what it looked like comparing the side seam old (red) and side seam new (black).  That's her standing next to it and you can see that she has not strange torque or twist of body shape.

To this day we are not sure what happened.  There could have easily been a misprint in the pattern, although it didn't look off, and I watched her lay out and cut out the second time, and there was exactly the same problem - exactly, the second time.  However, this is very perplexing cause I think Sandra Betzina takes particular care in her designs to make them correct.

This brings up an interesting philosophy about how I sew and what I do to solve situations like this.  I would rather sew than figure the trajectory of twist of reality versus the torque of a what appears to be a straight line.  The point here is that I want it to hang straight and pitch correctly on my student.  So that's my solution to this.

On another occasion, I may want an irregular darting or working of darts or gathers, and want something to torque or twist and may want to do the exact opposite - sew a straight line that will purposely torque.  The most recent example is my "no straight lines" pattern.

I couldn't have done this without putting this on my mannequin or putting the pants on my student.

The purpose of all this is to make the point about fitting.  It was virtually impossible for my student to fully see what the problem was, much less fix it while she had the pants on, yet we, both of us, couldn't see anything the matter on the pattern while she was looking head long into it on the table.

Think about this while you're fitting yourself.  And do not think you're a poor sewist if you can't fit yourself.  No one can.

Don't Stop Believing

One of the big things I love about Glee is the song: Don't Stop Believing!

I'm in the middle of a pants class right now, and my students are remarkable.  But periodically, I do meet discouragement and disappointment in my students.

The first thing I want to convey is that Don't Stop Believing!  And I know it's hard when either the student is completely lost or she's not understanding where I'm going.  And the lost part is what I'm most concerned about.

I started teaching because I realized how easy it was for me to get dressed or get excited about getting dressed and going through my closet.  If I want a new white blouse/top, I just plop down in my studio and make it. If I want a hot red dress - that shows off the best part of me, I just pull out something from my stash, and make it up.

That's real freedom!  I wanted to pass that freedom on to my students.

So for the bewitched, bothered and bewildered:

• don't be discouraged.
•  remember if you knew how to do all this, you'd be teaching the class and not me.
•  a project should be tackled in parts, particularly if it is overwhelming.  If the idea of doing a jacket is something you really want to do, but you either haven't done one in a while, or you're just plain scared to death - take it on it parts

Along this vein, I was asked something interesting by my students:  How long would I have to take lessons to sew like you?

I wasn't ready for that.  I've been sewing (good sewing, not play or "sewing for my Barbie" sewing) for almost 40 years.  When I was studying under my mentor, in one semester I would sew up 16 shirts, another 6 jackets, another 4 coats, 2 ball gowns - on and on.  Each garment was graded and critiqued - the critiqued part was really helpful.  Not only did I learn how to sew up these garments, but I also learned not to be afraid of it.  The pattern-drafting, fitting, designing all naturally developed from those semesters of just practice, practice, practice.

I "practiced" sewing for almost 10 years, before I started my business.

This sounds like a monotonous drill, but it was anything but.  I do love sewing.  It was just solving one puzzle after another - the kind of puzzles that I adore and can't wait to tackle.....part of that "follow your bliss" stuff that I also love!

For a lot of sewists, this isn't either possible or desirable.  But I also know that a lot of sewists do want to learn key techniques and methods from which a whole lot can be accomplished.

You don't have to know how to do hand pad-stitching to be able to sew in a sleeve.

You don't have to know about a button stance or notched lapel to be able to sew in a zipper.

So here are some things to think about when you're overwhelmed with a project.

1. You don't have to accomplish the project all at once (or even in one day - thank heavens!)
2. If it's a big project, take it in steps - if you have to little baby steps.
3. If you want to be able to do a method or technique well, practice - it's not a secret formula - just practice.  By the way, this also makes you comfy with the process.
4. Don't expect to know everything about sewing, fitting and designing all at once.  You didn't pop out of your mama's womb knowing how to do this stuff automatically - don't have those unrealistic expectations.
5. And DON'T STOP BELIEVING!!!!

Wool weights, 120s, 100s

I was at a local fabric shop, and they just got in some new wools.  They were really neat, and on the side was the tell-tale sign of excellence - 120s....

 

But what does super 120's mean?

It has a little history but basically it comes down to the fineness of the fabric.  Remember back to the fiber staple?...well, this explains a lot and helps classify fabrics and fibers that make up the fabric.

There are other factors such as strength, length, color and crimp that make up the quality of the fiber and therefore the quality of the wool fabric.

There can be fine super 120's and bad super 120's.  The final test for me is the "hand" or how the fabric feels.

(Thanks to Cathy for the picture at Threads and the Rest of It!)

Clockwise, starting at 12:00; Combed Cashmere, cashmere with silk, bison, 50/50 yak and merino, quivet, chinchilla blend, 15 micron Royal Cashmere (a very fine and high-grade wool fiber), Cashmere with wool and center is cashmere down.  Notice how long and straight the 15 micron Royal Cashmere looks?...it will make a beautiful fine fabric.

Wool today, because of the supped-up spinning machines and weaving looms, can twist a fiber and make a fabric that is finer than ever before.  This makes for some pretty amazing wool fabrics out there from a tissue-weight wool that rivals any cotton or linen for coolness and wickability, to the luxurious nap and hand of a fine cashmere.  Here's some some steps to take in determining the quality of a wool fabric.

Usually a fine wool has a "hard hand" or the weave is very tight (meaning a lot of fibers per inch).  You can get more fibers per inch if the twisted yarn or fiber is a lot finer or smaller.  Then this thin, thin yarn can be woven with lots of threads per inch and it becomes very smooth and hard in the finish or hand of the fabric.  This means the stables are long and therefore less "fuzzies" hanging out of the twisted yard that makes the fiber.  These fuzzies can be caused by the crimp and length of the fiber.  If the fabric is highly crinkled it has a lot of crimp.  As well, if the fiber is short, and twisted, it will have more fuzzies than a longer staple.  The longer staple will also look shinier.

A harder hand will be a more durable fabric - like for pants, suits, coats, dresses, etc.  A gauze or loosely oven light-weight wool would make a dream full blouse or full dress, but would not withstand the hard wear you might expect from a suit or tailored pants.

You can see the beautiful sheen in this fiber - it is a wool:

When the 120's, 130's, 100's is woven into the edge of the bolt of wool, it doesn't necessarily mean that it's a super elegant fabric, but it is one indication.  You will also have to take into consideration the length, color, crimp, strength as well as the fineness of the fiber.  A fine super 100, 110, 120, 130 will have a very soft and fine hand, it will feel and soft and yet hard, which is fabric talk for smooth

Wool is a fabulously flexible fabric and after you've used a tropical worsted or tissue-weight wool for a summer garment, you'll be sold on it's versatility. 

Here's some ideas of just how light-weight and delightful a wool can be from Gorgeous Fabrics (click on the picture and it will take you to the description of the fabric). 

All of these are very light weight and show the versatility and coolness of wool.

Musubu #B

What?....well this is from the Japanese Pattern Magic book, and once you look through those pictures, they are very intriguing.  Musubu means "tie" and this is a tie blouse/top (thanks to j. kaori for the translation!)

 

I love everything about this design...it's contained and fitted yet has a certain amount of flounce.  The only problem I have is that it needs to be proportioned to me - a little smaller frame than the normal dimensions.  I've shortened it here in this picture.  I've also folded over the collar softly however this is the muslin version and in the real version the collar will be a little higher (thicker), stand up more around my thin neck.

The next thing is to add a peplum of sorts to the bottom.  A shaped extension might be nice, but a peplum really feels right for this top.

 

Then I found this silk at a local upholstery store that is a beautiful gold with a wonderful width-wise orange.  It gives the gold an even richer color.  This will be perfect for this tie blouse.

Now if work doesn't get in the way, I can get this finished!!